Expansion-trap.



No. 881,668, f

PA'TBNTBDMR. 1o, 190s. R. M. DIXON. I EXPANSION TRAP...

A APPIIUATION 4FILED MAY 10. 1804. BENBWBD JULY 12. 1807.

Hill! I h nl 4l IIIIIII mommy s UNTTED STATES PATENT onirica...

ROBERT M. DIXON, OF EAST ORANGE, NEWlJERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE SAFETY CARHET- v ING & LIGHTING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY,

EXPANS10N-'rnIAP.i

specification'of Letters recent.

Patented March 10, 1998.

Application filed May 10, 1904, Serial'No. 207,269. Renewed July 12,1907. Serial No. 383,515.

suitable expansion element or device is relied upon to relieve the trapofwater of conv densation.`

, access to the casing.

casing may be eHectivel-y formed or con' The expansion trap shown in thedrawing,

'which illustrates one forni of trap in which my invention is embodied,comprises inter alia a hand valve chamber and an automatic valve chamberand hand and automatically o erated'valves in the respective chambers.

`e automatic valve serves to automatically relieve the trap ofthe/waterof condensation,

lthe hand operated valve being utilized to blow oit steam when desired.

The trap shown on the drawing is so constructed and arranged that thedevice for operating the automatic` valve will be located within thespace to be heated and thereby be affected by the dischargedcondensation from ythe radiating pi ues, and be unaifected by thetemperature o the external air through which the train is passing, orinwhich the car o stands.

The newl arrangement gives considerable economy in the saving of' steamfor itfrequently occursxwhere therinostats are located outside of thecar that they contract and allow the valve to open and considerablequantities of steam to escapev before it has given up its latent heat ofevaporation for the purpose of heating cars. In the drawing:-Figure-Iris a broken away side elevation ofthe trap shown for illustrativepurposes; Fig. II is a transverse vertical section of the trap shown inFig, I; and Fig. vlll is a section on line [IL-III of Fig. Il, thedirection of view being upward. ln this drawing, a indicates a bodycasing or casting from which or by which the other y .oi-atiiig parts ofthe device are or may .be supported'. -This casting is provided withconduits b byA which steam may be given This body casting or structed bycasting which is at present considered by me the most effective mode ofsleeve p tain of t e operating parts in the interiorv of the casting.

The casting a is provided with a chamber d t0 which-the steam has accessand in which is located a hand operated valve e whose stem f extendsthrough a suitable gland g tothe constructing same. A suitable bushing cmay be rovided for affording access to eeroutside of the device. Thishand operated valve e coperates with the valve seat h in the wall of the,chamber d which valve seat communicates with a conduit communicate ingwith a pi e or conduit for conductin steam from tiezchamber d when Vthehan operatedvalve is ofi its seat. In another ortion of the casting achamber c is ormed for lthe reception of the automatic valve.Thischamber k is shown as elongated and of an elliptical or ellipsoidalshape in cross section with the major axis trans.-

verse to the width ofthe casting so as to save space in one direction;that is to say, the trap ordinarily should -have a certain effectivewidth to accommodate the pipes or connections b and by employing theelliptical form of chamber with its major axis extending across thewidth of the trap considerable space inthe other dimension or width ofthe trap is saved, which would not be the case if a cylindricalchamberwere employed.

Screwed into the wall ofthe chamber cl is a valve seat Z for cooperationwith the automatic valve, which valve s'eatl is adjustable` with respectto the valve by means of suitable ,tangs or lugs o which may be en agedby a tool for the purposes vci such a( justment. i f

Located within the chamber c is a suitable support for the automaticvalve and for the.,`

portion of the mechanism most intimately associated therewith to effectits operation.

This supporting device is herein shown as a from which rises anapertured arm 1' or the reception of the stem s of the automatic valve.The sleeve p fits snugly Within ythe chamber c of the casting .a so asto leave a very slight air space between said sleeve and the inner faceof `the wall of the casting a. The object of this more or less loose litis to increase the effective body of metal and thereby rendering thedevice non-homogeneous so asto prevent as far as possible the loss olheat which would occurrii but a single integral body of metal wereemployed at raving integral therewith'a s ider g` vto these pointsinstead of two mechanically associated layers of metal. The sleeve p issuitably supported in the casting a. The manner herein shown is byproviding a flange t on the lower' end of' the sleeve p apertured forthe passage of screws u which are ta ped into lugs c on the casting c, apair of lbcknuts w, m, being provided on each side ot the flaige t forthe purpose of adiustably securing the sleeve in the casting.

Carried by the stem s of the automatic valve is a chamber y whose wallsare capable of dilation and which contains a suitable expansible liquide. rlhis chamber and its contents constitute what is ordinarily knownunder the generic term of aneroid chamber The device for operating theautomatic valve and the upper end ot' its envelopingcasing are containedwithin the space to be heated for reasons hereinl'ieforc set torth. Thehorizontal line S-Q shows approximately the level of the car or otherfloor bounding the space to be heated.

Mounted upon the side of the chamber q/ is a suitable button 1 hereinshown as having a -eurved face 2. An auton'xatic valve 3 is shown'assuitably mounted upon an exteriorly screw-threaded base 4 having aconcave back ada ted to the curved tace of the button 1. A t readedsleevei secures the automatic valve base adjustably to its seat, theflange (i of said sleeve,restingbehind the head of the button 1, l

By the connections just described the automatic valve is capable ofalmost universal adjustment which though slight will be found sufiicientfor the purpose. The 4faces of the automatic valve as well as the valveseat are shown as in an inclined position and located at one side of'the valve. chamber 7c. The object of this construction is to provide fora more ready disch-ar e of Water of condensation from the tace o thevalve and to determine the direction of ow of such condensation water.Any usual or suitable form of strainer 7 may be employed betweenthevalve chamber d and the valve chamber A The operation of the devicewill be readily understood. While the steam pressure or direct'contactof steam With the operating parts of the trap exists or continues theautomatic valve will be held firmly to its seat by the thermostat. Uponthe gathering or 'accumulation of water of' condensation in the chamberd the temperature of the trap will be gradually lowered and the aneroidcham- ,ber or thermostat will contractv and by such contraction draw theautomatic valve away from its seat and permit the water of condensationto ilow out of the chamber d' over the valve seat and automatic valveinto the chamber c by which it will be discharged from the trap. As soonas the water of cony fleneatio'n has passed out of the trap and senesesteam begins to flow into the chamber 7c the thermostat will againexpand and close .the automatic valve against. its seat.

It will be observed that in the present instance l have shown a smallaneroid contained in a relatively large valve chamber having thick wallsand in which the said aneroid chamber is located at a distance trom thedischarge end of' the ,asing thereby affording opportunity for arelatively large volul'ne of steam to come into intimate contact withthe aneroid chamber and to be maintained -ior a. while at an elevatedtelnpcrature so that thc efficient action ot the aneroid chamber isthereby assured.

When, l'or any reason, it is desirable to blow steam through the trap,the hand valve c is operated which will have the etl'ect ot blowingsteam through the chamber (I, the conduit i, and the pipc'or conduit andil' the automatic valve is oil its seat, steam will also pass over samethrough the chamber lc. By reason ot' the fact that the automatic valveand its operating moans are located so near the cbau'iber d where thewater ot condensation accunullates and within the space to be heated,tbc trap will operate very ellicicntly and will not freeze except,perhaps, under most extraordiimry circumstances.

llaving described my invention, what l claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. ln a trap, the combination of a valve operating faceof thc said automatically operating valve receiving direct steampressure and being an rularly disposed with respect to thel vertica lineof the trap, whereby the water of condensation may be eil'cetivelydelivered from the face-ot the valve.

2. ln a trap, the combination of' a valve seat inclined with respect tothe vertical line of the trap, an automatic valve adapted to 'said seatand having its tace inclined with respect to thc vertical line of thetrap and automatic means acting in a line inclined vth respect to thevertical line of the trap and operating to actuate the valve.

3. Ina trap, the combination of a hand operated valve and anautomatically operated valve, with means for automatically operating thesaid last .named valve, the said -valves being set angularly withrespect to each other and inclined with respect to the vertical lineofthe trap.

' 4.- In an expansion trap, the combination of a plurality of valveswith mechanical means for operating one valve, automatic means toroperating the other valve, one of ,the said valves having its operatingface rcceiving steam pressure and placed angularly with respect to thevertical line ol the trap.

5. In a trap, the combination of a valve ,valve having automaticallycontained vWithin the said support for the said valve also locatedWithin expansion means for-al tornatically yoperating said valve, Yanelon ated valve chamber envelopingthe said va ve and its automaticallyoperating means, tf e said automatlcally 'operating means and valvebeing located at the said chamber and com rise'd in part by a tubularsupport loosely*A tting- Withinl the said elongated chamber, whereby amore efbination of an clon fective heat retaining body is provided;

7. In an automatic steam trap, the comated valve casing, an eX- ansiondevice an valve operated thereby lbcated at ornear one end of the saidelongated casing and an elongated tubular support independent of andcoated Within the said casing and serving to sup ortthe autcimatic valveand its operating evice.

8. In a trap, the combination of an automatically operating valve and ahand open ated valve, a discharge device for discharg valve', anexpansion p automatic valve and a chamber for contaming the ex ing steamoutside of the trap out of contact with the .operating device of theautomatic device for operating the ansion device comprised by a luralito thicknesses of material Within eat ra iating proximity to thedischarge device. 9. In .an automatic steam trap, the com- Vber d for ahand operated bination of a casting having tWo valve cham- Iof the trap,the other chamber being of a aving its major axis extending transverselyof the trap. along the diameter determined by the Width of the inlets.

10. In an expansion trap, the combination of a casting comprised in partby a chamber of a general elliptical form in cross section generalelliptical 'form in cross section' and and steam inlet means projectingfrom the said elliptical chamber in the direction ofthe minor axisthereof. l

11. In an ex ansion trap, the combination of an elongate( chamber k, anautomatically operating valve and thermostat therefor connected directlytogether and located entirely at one end of the said chamber, a handoperated valve located at or/near the same end of the chamber as theautomatic valve and a blow-off device for delivering steam from the tra1%. In an expansion tra the combination of an enlarged elongated c amberc, a chamvalve, an aneroid suitably supported at one end of the chamber7c and carrying a valve directly connected `therewith and means forventing the trap to the atmosphere Without'bringing the iiuid so ventedinto contact with the aneroid chamber,

' ,ROBERT M. DIXON.

'Witnessesz A. C. MOORE;

ELMER E. ALLBEE.

